''Karthavyam'' () is a 1990 Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

-language

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Mohan Gandhi and produced by

A. M. Rathnam A. M. Rathnam is an Indian film producer, lyricist, screenwriter, and director known for his works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Under Sri Surya Movies Entertainment, a movie production house he owns in Hyderabad, he has produced blockbusters i ...

. It stars

Vijayashanti Moturi Vijaya Shanthi (born 24 June 1966) is an Indian actress, film producer and politician. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has acted in 187 feature films in a variety of roles in various languages predominantly in Telugu language, Te ...

and

Vinod Kumar Vinod Kumar Alva (born 1 April 1963) is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Telugu cinema and appeared in Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam films. He is known as Vinod Kumar in Telugu film industry. He hails from Puttur in Dakshina Kan ...

in the lead roles. Written by

Paruchuri Brothers Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao (born 21 June 1944) and Paruchuri Gopala Krishna (born 25 September 1947), collectively referred to as the Paruchuri Brothers, are a screenwriting duo whose work is predominant as story writers, dialogue writers, act ...

and Mohan Gandhi, the film is loosely based on the real-life story of police officer

Kiran Bedi Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is a former tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from 28 May 2016 to 16 Februa ...

.Political content dominates their films: The Hindu Interview
, The Hindu. Made on a budget of 90

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

, the film was a commercial success, grossing over 7

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

. Vijayashanti won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for Best Actress for her performance in this film. The film premiered at the 14th

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

in the mainstream section. The film was subsequently dubbed into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as ''Vyjayanthi IPS,'' which was also a huge success at the box office. The film was remade in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as ''Tejasvini'' (1994) with Vijayashanti reprising her role, and later in Tamil as ''

Bhavani Bhavānī (also known as Bhāvya, Tulajā, Turajā, Tvarita, Aṃbā, Jagadambā and Aṃbē) is an epithet associated with Durga. Bhavani translates to "giver of life," meaning the power of nature or the source of creative energy. She is cons ...

'' (2011). A spiritual sequel Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi starring

who reprised her legendary role once again as Vijayanthi IPS and

Nandamuri Kalyan Ram Nandamuri Kalyan Ram (born 5 July 1978) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is the son of actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna. Ram is best known for his roles in action films such as ''Athanokkade'', ''Hare Ram ...

in lead roles directed by pradeep chilukuri released on 18th April 2025 and received mixed reviews from critics and audience.

Plot

Vyjayanthi is an Assistant Superintendent of Police and a sincere cop who strives to confront a corrupt local leader Muddu Krishnayya and his son's atrocities; she is committed to making a difference and seeking justice.

Cast

Awards

* 1990 -

National Film Award for Best Actress The National Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry. ...

* 1990 -

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu The Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Telugu films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. The year indicates the year of release of th ...

- Vijayashanti * 1990 - Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu -

* 1990 -

Nandi Award for Best Actress The Nandi Award for Best Actress was commissioned in 1977. The winner is awarded a "Silver Nandi" and a cash award of 30,000. Superlatives The Actresses with most wins are listed in total order List of winners of Nandi Awards for Best Actress ...

- Vijayashanti (in

) * 1990 -

Nandi Award for Best Story Writer The Nandi Award The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after ...

References

External links

* 1990 films Fictional portrayals of the Andhra Pradesh Police 1990s Telugu-language films Films featuring a Best Actress National Award–winning performance Indian action drama films 1990 action drama films Films scored by Raj–Koti 1990s police procedural films Films set in Andhra Pradesh Films based on real people Action drama films based on actual events 1990s political films Telugu films remade in other languages Indian political action films Indian political drama films Indian films based on actual events Indian legal drama films 1990s political action films {{1990s-Telugu-film-stub